Dr Ulrich Schmiedel (MLitt, DiplTheol, DPhil, DrHabil, FHEA)
Lecturer in Theology, Politics and Ethics

- School of Divinity
Contact details
- Tel: +44(0)1316508918
- Email: ulrich.schmiedel@ed.ac.uk
- Web: Academia.edu
Address
- Street
-
New College
Mound Place - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH1 2LX
Background
Ulrich Schmiedel is Lecturer in Theology, Politics and Ethics at the University of Edinburgh. The Deputy Director of Edinburgh’s Centre for Theology and Public Issues, he has written widely on political and public theology. He also serves as Chair of the Research Advisory Board of A World of Neighbours, a multi-faith network of actors working with migrants across Europe.
Ulrich is the author of Elasticized Ecclesiology: The Concept of Community after Ernst Troeltsch (2017), The Claim to Christianity: Responding to the Far Right (2020), written with Hannah Strømmen, and Terror und Theologie: Der religionstheoretische Diskurs der 9/11-Dekade (2021) for which he was awarded the University of Munich's Habilitation Prize in the Humanities. His publications also include the co-edited compilations Dynamics of Difference: Christianity and Alterity (2015), Religious Experience Revisited: Expressing the Inexpressible? (2016), Religion in the European Refugee Crisis (2018), Liberale Theologie heute – Liberal Theology Today (2019), and The Spirit of Populism: Political Theologies in Polarized Times (2021).
Prior to his appointment at Edinburgh, Ulrich was Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in Munich, Germany, where he completed his post-doctoral dissertation in systematic theology (‘Habilitation’). He gained his doctorate in theology from the University of Oxford, after studying theology, sociology and hermeneutics at the Universities of Glasgow and Stirling as well as the Universities of Leipzig and Halle-Wittenberg.
Qualifications
MLitt (University of Glasgow), DiplTheol (Universität Leipzig), DPhil (University of Oxford), DrHabil (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy of Scotland
Responsibilities & affiliations
- Editor-in-chief, "Political and Public Theologies: Comparisons - Coalitions - Critiques"
- Editorial Board, "The Church of Sweden Research Series"
Undergraduate teaching
- Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding
- The God(s) of the Philosophers: Problems and Proposals
- Metaphysics and Morality
- Public Theologies: Thinkers and Themes
- Political Theologies: Thinkers and Themes
Postgraduate teaching
- Public Theologies: Current Controversies
- Political Theologies: Current Controversies
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
Ulrich welcomes enquiries from students who would like to pursue postgraduate studies in any area relating to his research.
Current PhD students supervised
- Andreas Bernberg
- Ryszard Bobrowicz
- Whitney Buchanan
- Tiffany Butler
- Stephan Dolan
- Taylor Holleyman
- Anna Elisa Koch
- Liz Marsh
- Baily McDaniel
Research summary
Ulrich’s research combines systematic theology with both sociology of religion and philosophy of religion. His research interests include:
- anthropology
- comparative theology and coalitional theory
- ecclesiology
- faith-based activism
- history of theology, particularly the 19th and the 20th century
- Islam in Christian theology
- liberal theologies
- migration and post-migration in theology, politics and ethics
- political and public theology
- religion in the far right
- theories of religion
Current research interests
Most of Ulrich’s recent research has been concerned with the significance of Christianity for migrant and post-migrant societies, particularly in Europe. He was awarded a membership at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, NJ, USA, where he participated in the interdisciplinary inquiry on religion and migration.Knowledge exchange
Ulrich has been a public speaker at a variety of events. He often visits community and church groups for workshops. He has also contributed to a number of media outlets, both online and offline.
Affiliated research centres
Current project grants
‘Welcoming the Stranger: Resources for a European Multi-Faith Ethics of Migration’, Royal Society of Edinburgh (2021-2023)
‘Public Theology in the Post-Migrant Society: The Role of Religion in Multi-Faith Refugee Relief’, Lunds Missionssällskap (2021-2022)
Past project grants
‘Liberalism’s Islams and Islam’s Liberalisms: Constructing a Contrast in a Paradigmatic Period’, American Academy of Religion (2018-2019)
-
[Review of] Matthew J. Kaemingk. Christian Hospitality and Muslim Immigration in an Age of Fear
In:
Modern Believing, vol. 63, pp. 76-78
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/mb.2022.6
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Book/Film/Article review (Published) -
The Spirit of Populism: Political Theologies in Polarized Times
(348 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004498327
Research output: › Book (Published) -
Terror und Theologie: Der religionstheoretische Diskurs der 9/11-Dekade
(448 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1628/978-3-16-160795-0
Research output: › Book (Published) -
The theopolitics of the migrant: Toward a coalitional and comparative political theology
(18 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003042198
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
"No more deaths": Religious liberty as a defense for providing sanctuary for immigrants
(25 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003042198
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
Supremacy smugglers? Islam in the legacy of theological liberalism
(28 pages)
In:
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, vol. 89, pp. 644-671
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfab043
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Religion and responsible debate
(2 pages)
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
The cracks in the category of Christianism: A call for ambiguity in the conceptualization of Christianity
(19 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003046646
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
[Review of] Hope in a secular age: Deconstruction, negative theology, and the future of faith
In:
Political Theology, vol. 22, pp. 178-180
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1462317X.2021.1878576
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Book/Film/Article review (Published) -
Churches and the rise of the Far Right
Research output: › Web publication/site (Published) -
"Gott mit uns“: Die theologie der Neuen Rechten
In:
Die Eule - Magazin für Kirche, Politik und Kultur
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Har ytre høyre kapret kristendommen?
In:
Klassekampen
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Learning to Live with Liberalism — Apocalyptic Political Theology Book Event
Research output: › Web publication/site (Published) -
The Claim to Christianity: Responding to the Far Right
(192 pages)
Research output: › Book (Published) -
Migration
(8 pages)
Research output: › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary (Published) -
Are churches complicit in the rise of the far right?
Research output: › Web publication/site (Published) -
Coalitional church: Ecclesiology in the age of migration
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
Public Theologian avant la lettre? N.F.S. Grundtvig as historian and politician
(8 pages)
In:
Grundtvig-Studier: An International Journal for the Study of Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872), vol. 70, pp. 122-129
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7146/grs.v70i0.121906
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (Published) -
[Review of] Religious Imaginations: How Narratives of Faith Are Shaping Today’s World. Edited by James Walters. London: Gingko Library, 2018. 301 pp. $44.95
(3 pages)
In:
Journal of Church and State, vol. 62, pp. 158-160
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/csz094
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Book/Film/Article review (E-pub ahead of print) -
[Review of] Theologising Brexit: A Liberationist and Postcolonial Critique, Anthony G. Reddie, Routledge, 2019 (ISBN 978-0-367-028888-6), x + 264pp., hb £115
(4 pages)
In:
Reviews in Religion and Theology, vol. 26, pp. 693-696
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/rirt.13693
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Book/Film/Article review (Published)